Yeah, they’re anthropomorphic pandas, but can the WoW community embrace it?

World of Warcraft players snickered when the latest, panda-themed expansion, Mists of Pandaria, was announced, but now that it's out, anthropomorphized pandas are on everyone’s mind. Is this Blizzard pandering to kids? Has the framework of this game jumped the shark? Or is the expansion actually richer than expected? Earlier this week, Andrew Groen shared his impressions of Mists, and found the expansion to be quite fun. The Ars Openforum discussed the merits of the new game and its panda martial arts characters in the thread "World of Warcraft - Take 14 - Welcome to Pandaria!"

Continuity in the World of Warcraft Universe

Continuity in the series is important, and if you want to get some of the best synopses of the WoW series and how Mists fits in, you will want to read posts by Nekojin. If you are playing WoW for the first time (assuming you’ve been sequestered from the world from the past 8 years), Nekojin even posted a great summary of what major events have taken place in the WoW mythology.

Nekojin notices that Mists suffers from some "time drift," as the characters from the new expansion have to "catch up" to be incorporated into the main story line. Is this annoying? Well, Nekojin notes, "With the updated zones from Cataclysm, Pandaren aren't being dropped several years into the past, but rather several months. While they're still dealing with a world that has only recently been ravaged by Deathwing, that's not such a huge stretch. If WoW intends to keep going with their current model of updating the existing framework rather than creating entirely new and separate frameworks ("WoW II" or something along those lines), then it's inevitable that they're going to have to update the lore, and the zones, periodically. I expect to see them do an earth-shaking, world-changing event every 2 or 3 expansions from here on out."

How is the gameplay?

Enlarge/ The graphical richness of the environments inside the WoW mythology is still here, and it has depth.

As we pointed out, the Mists expansion takes players into environments that are rich with color and depth, keeping in line with the attention to detail seen in previous iterations of WoW. And what are some of the best areas of Mists? NavyGothic says,"I loved Jade Forest and Valley of the Four Winds, easily among the best zones they've ever made, if not the best."

As we pointed out in our review of Mists, this expansion extends the shelf life of the World of Warcraft franchise, which has been around for eight years. But as some OpenForum members began to explore ways to level up characters from Mists, they began to ask questions about anomalies they noticed. Nekojin observes that it’s possible that members of Pandaren can never become Death Knights.

Nekojinadds, "Since Arthas had a personal hand in the creation of Death Knights in the first place, it would stand to reason that Death Knights are no longer being produced. Any race that is introduced after Arthas' defeat, chronologically, could never be raised and prepped by Arthas and his minions to be Death Knights. So, in that sense, the Death Knight is a "dead" class. Will [Blizzard] ever introduce other "advanced" classes like that? Will we see potential limited-window classes? Or will WoW collapse under its own weight before something like that happens again?"

The OpenForum is a great place to find Arsian players and their respective servers, and that means the thread is also a good place to share tips on gameplay mechanics. If you are wondering how to master the metagame inside Mists, or whether it’s better to adopt a battle stance over a berserk stance, you can find those discussions throughout the thread.

And what about the Pokemo—Uh, Pets?

Mists of Pandaria has also introduced a pet system into its gameplay, and if you’re thinking it resembles that ever-familiar monster-battling series from Nintendo, you’re not mistaken. Small creatures you capture can be trained and leveled up to fight in battles using their magical and physical abilities. So, is it fair to call it "PokeWoW"? Nekojinthinks so.

ShadowKleewarmed up to the pets: "I didn't think I would but I am liking the Pet Battle system. I just need to get the interface moved because of where I have my mini map. Oh and posting so the thread IS orange for me."

So is it worth playing?

Over in the comments section of the story, reader and longtime WoW player Malacodafound the expansion worthy of the franchise: "Really don't like questing and leveling characters, but the overall design of the zones and the story were well done, and it was more fun than most of the questing in Cataclysm, and much of [Wrath]…I am a dungeon runner primarily with WoW, and their decision to limit the number of leveling dungeons and concentrate more on endgame dungeons was a very smart move…So, up to this point, I give Mists the thumbs up."

Some users have criticized the WoW framework for being a bit long in the tooth, but there are plenty of players who are enjoying Mists of Pandaria. Is this expansion right for you? What do you think this latest expansion contributes to the overall status of World of Warcraft? Perhaps you want to share your stories about why you have stayed or left. Share your thoughts with us in the OpenForum or in the comments below. Join in the conversation with us in the Ars OpenForum. Register for an account to participate in the discussion.

Promoted Comments

The changes to the talent system that were introduced shortly before MoP actually are very nice. Any of them are viable end-game options and can suit more varied play styles. It's not a sandbox game by any means, but I must say, the changes to the glyphs and talent trees came across well... . The dungeons are a bit on the easy side this time around. I haven't run into any really difficult Heroics *yet.*

Is continuity really a concern for a game that changed the back story, race, and motivations of Sargeras, one of their main villains, before their first expansion hit?

All the same, with more intelligent use of phasing, Blizzard could use zones for higher level content without completely retooling them. They have all the tools at their disposal to do so.

Personally, I much prefer completely new zones, quests and threats; something this expansion sorely lacks, the island is very pretty and detailed, but much of the playable content is repeated at multiple difficulties or daily, in order to pad play time.

Blizzard does deserve some praise for choosing to go with a physical manifestation of bad feelings as their primary nemesis in their magical talking bears land, most companies would stay a little further away from Care Bears for their inspiration.

I'm terrified that Blizzard is setting a "Even-Numbered Expansions are Good, Odd-Numbered Expansions are Meh" precedent.

1.) Burning Crusade, for all of the rose-tinted nostalgia of the raiding elite, was really just more of the same coming out of Vanilla. The only major changes to gameplay it added were flying mounts, daily quests and Arenas. (one could argue 10-man raids got their start there as well with Kara and ZA) Outside of a couple of quest chains (Horde 'Greatmother' chain in Nagrand, Cipher of Damnation in Shadowmoon), there wasn't a lot of epic feel to the questing either. Heroic instances were multi-hour slogs without either raid epics or the right mix of CC and DPS.

2.) Wrath of the Lich King moved the game back toward casuals with the introduction of BOA items, 10-man raiding at all levels, and Dungeon Finder. The quest chains felt epic, and the constant interactions with Arthas as you moved through the storylines gave you a real feeling of attachment when you finally reached Icecrown Citadel. Heroics were somewhat easier, with the shorter ones taking less than 30 minutes with a good group.

3.) Cataclysm was a step backwards in a lot of ways. While the revamp of the vanilla world was long overdue, it seemed to detract from end-game focus. Questing retains a somewhat epic feel, but zones are a linear affair - all or nothing, making alts feel identical. In an effort to make the game more 'challenging,' Blizzard stepped up the difficulty to near-BC levels - but with the Dungeon Finder, it turned even the smallest heroics into multi-hour grind-fests, with multiple deaths for anyone not in a guild group on voice comms. End-game became a grind again, forcing people to grind out an entire zone plus associated rep to get shoulder enchants for alts, and subscriber numbers dropped to below 10 million for the first time in years. The addition of Raid Finder was an excellent decision, though the nearly one year wait between the final patch and the next expansion was far too long for most players.

4.) Mists of Pandaria appears to be a step back toward the 'Wrath' model, with epic storylines that tie together a zone while still allowing pick-and-choose quest hubs that flow smoothly. Phasing technology first implemented in Wrath and diversified in Cataclysm sees extensive new use in the quests of Mists, giving each player a feeling of truly impacting the world around them. Talents, for the first time, are meaningful choices without cookie-cutter specs. Pet Battles, Farming and Personal Reputations gives casuals a new lease on end-game, while Challenge Modes give fantastic and unique cosmetic rewards to the truly hardcore. With Legendary items now accessible even to those in Raid Finder, there really is something for everyone.

As someone who has been playing since Vanilla, I'm absolutely thrilled with the direction of this expansion.All in all, Mists is easily one of - if not the - best expansion Blizzard has ever released.I honestly believe that Cataclysm was a major misstep, but that Blizzard has regained their footing.

I've played well over 400 days on all my characters, and worked my way up to 10 man heroic Deathwing Spine. I know what it is like to grind through all that content time and time again.

MoP is the first expansion ever that has made me want to explore more of the regions. In the very first zone (alliance) that you arrive in, The Jade Forest, there is an island that you are only supposed to get at when you're level 90. The last time I saw something similar was in Vanilla with Alcaz Island in Dustwallow Marsh. I am very pleased with how the quest zoning is implemented and so far I haven't encountered a crap ton of people clogging up quest points (on a very populated PVE server).

The lure of the expansion is so strong that I need to physically change games to something like BF3 or GW2 to get a breather. Also this is the first expansion that has made me want to leave the music on continuous loop. The last zone that did that for me was Grizzly Hills in Wrath. Not to mention the breathtaking beauty of The Jade Forest.

Blizzard has really outdone themselves on this expansion. Now my experience with dungeons has been limited so far, but the only one I have done (the Brewery) has been exciting with interesting boss concepts and hasn't been much of a pushover (still using 85% of my heroic raid gear). I am pleased that all my epic gear isn't being replaced until lvl 86 or lvl 87 greens and blues.

63 Reader Comments

There's a critical point where hype for a game changes from "what's next?" to turning on and maintaining the life support. Now that we're so comfortable making comments about an expansion "extend[ing]" the life of the game, we've clearly passed that point. The game is dying. It's only a matter of time until it's taken off life support.

There's a critical point where hype for a game changes from "what's next?" to turning on and maintaining the life support. Now that we're so comfortable making comments about an expansion "extend[ing]" the life of the game, we've clearly passed that point.

I'm just about done leveling a Monk from scratch and have experienced the whole game from level 1 with all the more recent changes and additions. And I have to say I disagree with you. The lower level zones are very well done, and were redone in Cataclysm, and while there is a bit of a quick drag through the other expansion zones, getting into the new expac zones and completing the quest chains has been a very rewarding experience. I find myself wanting to finish off quest hubs b/c I want to, even after I've gained a level and can proceed to the next zone - and I am in no shape or form a completionist. The zone questing is just THAT good. It's very impressive mix of kill quests, gathering, and quirky mechanics that keep the grind fresh. And the story lines have been fantastic, the voice acting is extremely high quality and there is a lot of detail if you stick around and hear out all the dialogues.

You can chuckle at the pokemon and farmville stuff, but it's optional gameplay that you can very easily skip. That said, pet battles is fairly fun and I can see myself messing around with it while waiting for raids to get going, and the Tillers planting isn't dopey at all - you get very convenient trade goods you can use and cuts down on tedious farming.

All in all, fixating on LOL-Pandas is a faux argument. This game already has LOL-Cows, LOL-Goats, and LOL-Wolfs. And the pandaren race ranges from silly to very bad ass, the lore behind the Shado Pan is very well done. MoP also added LOL-Fish and LOL-Bugs so snicker away

Quote:

The game is dying. It's only a matter of time until it's taken off life support.

There's absolutely no sign of the game dying. Subs are back over 10 million.

Nekojin adds, "Since Arthas had a personal hand in the creation of Death Knights in the first place, it would stand to reason that Death Knights are no longer being produced. Any race that is introduced after Arthas' defeat, chronologically, could never be raised and prepped by Arthas and his minions to be Death Knights. So, in that sense, the Death Knight is a "dead" class. Will [Blizzard] ever introduce other "advanced" classes like that? Will we see potential limited-window classes? Or will WoW collapse under its own weight before something like that happens again?

One could argue that Bolvar Fordragon is making more deathknights, since he is in the lich kings place. The lore still has a lot of loose ends to tie up in the future.

I don't really see how some people think the pandaren are meant for kids and all that. They (or at least one of them) were in Warcraft 3 so the basics were there already. I wonder if they are drunk though.

The changes to the talent system that were introduced shortly before MoP actually are very nice. Any of them are viable end-game options and can suit more varied play styles. It's not a sandbox game by any means, but I must say, the changes to the glyphs and talent trees came across well... . The dungeons are a bit on the easy side this time around. I haven't run into any really difficult Heroics *yet.*

The gameplay is only old and dying if youre sick of it, and many people are not and wont ever be. Heck speaking of Nintendo, they havnt had a new idea in decades(gimicky hardware notwithstanding) but people still buy and love games like Zelda and Mario. Add in 5+ years of character investment for a lot of players and even some of the people finding the gameplay stale will be sticking around.

The graphics are showing their age but are still holding up and so is the engine thats had 7 years(has it been 7?) of refinement. You can argue that by next gen of consoles that PC games will take a leap in graphical quality, but then you loose the accessibility of 10m+ subscribers.

Whats going to die are $15 a month subscription fees, but not for a few more years yet. Personally I wont be getting Mists of Pandaria partly because I AM sick of the gameplay, though its mostly because Im tired of paying $15 a month and not getting $15 worth of content and service.

What's happened to ARS? Is it increased input from Conde Nast, or just emulation of sibling pubs like Wired? Can the site continue if headlines become link bait questions with keyword-laden articles that don't answer the questions? Is it possible they don't know how annoying it is to run a laundry list of questions without making at least an attempt to answer them? Do they not see the false dichotomies present in most of the questions, or is it likely to rain tomorrow?

I'm sure everyone has been waiting with bated breath for my opinion, which is:

1- What I like:- not too many bugs. I think this is actually the less buggy expansion ever.- the great outdoors. trekking in MoP is actually pleasant, as opposed to Cata and WotLK which felt rather oppressive. Cavorting in green fields is fun !- questing is more varied. A bit. "Kill X of Y" is a bit less prevalent, and the *other* quests are a bit more original.- mechanics and balance are getting better

2- What I don't like- fix the UI already ! there are so many things wrong with it (info scattered all over the place, "lying" buttons, mandatory addons...)- dailies upon dailies upon dailies. My freshly minted 90 has 2-3 hours of dailies. That's dailies as in "each day". The appearance of reputations you need other reps to have access to, and the disappearance of tabards and max dailies/day, makes MoP the most grindy extension ever.- no content staggering: when you're introducing a lot of new content and mechanics, it makes sense to change it gradually over time, instead of throwing it wholesale at a user base which is mainly not equipped to deal with the onflow- very few instances: 4 during leveling, BC/LK had about 10, Cata a few less ?- no launch event ? repeat: No Launch Event ! It's like sex w/o an orgasm ?

3- What's meh- pet battles. Some seem to like them so it's OK though. Targeted at the Achievements/Archeology/Mount+pet collectors I guess.- entry conditions to heroics and LFR seem a bit tight, so 1st thing you get to do when reaching 90 is either shell big bucks for a couple of epics, or go grind dailies.

Is continuity really a concern for a game that changed the back story, race, and motivations of Sargeras, one of their main villains, before their first expansion hit?

All the same, with more intelligent use of phasing, Blizzard could use zones for higher level content without completely retooling them. They have all the tools at their disposal to do so.

Personally, I much prefer completely new zones, quests and threats; something this expansion sorely lacks, the island is very pretty and detailed, but much of the playable content is repeated at multiple difficulties or daily, in order to pad play time.

Blizzard does deserve some praise for choosing to go with a physical manifestation of bad feelings as their primary nemesis in their magical talking bears land, most companies would stay a little further away from Care Bears for their inspiration.

There's a critical point where hype for a game changes from "what's next?" to turning on and maintaining the life support. Now that we're so comfortable making comments about an expansion "extend[ing]" the life of the game, we've clearly passed that point. The game is dying. It's only a matter of time until it's taken off life support.

The rhetoric is strong with this one.

WoW is not dying. Maybe it is? In the way that an athlete decides to retire so, instead of running 5 miles a day to train, they're running 4 miles a day for fun? It is a stupid argument to make... WoW is far and beyond any other MMO for subscribers, they picked up a fair few returning folks after MoP released, and will they see some more drop? Sure they will, but the game isn't dying. The bubble is bursting, and there is still a healthy amount of income to be had there.

I'm terrified that Blizzard is setting a "Even-Numbered Expansions are Good, Odd-Numbered Expansions are Meh" precedent.

1.) Burning Crusade, for all of the rose-tinted nostalgia of the raiding elite, was really just more of the same coming out of Vanilla. The only major changes to gameplay it added were flying mounts, daily quests and Arenas. (one could argue 10-man raids got their start there as well with Kara and ZA) Outside of a couple of quest chains (Horde 'Greatmother' chain in Nagrand, Cipher of Damnation in Shadowmoon), there wasn't a lot of epic feel to the questing either. Heroic instances were multi-hour slogs without either raid epics or the right mix of CC and DPS.

2.) Wrath of the Lich King moved the game back toward casuals with the introduction of BOA items, 10-man raiding at all levels, and Dungeon Finder. The quest chains felt epic, and the constant interactions with Arthas as you moved through the storylines gave you a real feeling of attachment when you finally reached Icecrown Citadel. Heroics were somewhat easier, with the shorter ones taking less than 30 minutes with a good group.

3.) Cataclysm was a step backwards in a lot of ways. While the revamp of the vanilla world was long overdue, it seemed to detract from end-game focus. Questing retains a somewhat epic feel, but zones are a linear affair - all or nothing, making alts feel identical. In an effort to make the game more 'challenging,' Blizzard stepped up the difficulty to near-BC levels - but with the Dungeon Finder, it turned even the smallest heroics into multi-hour grind-fests, with multiple deaths for anyone not in a guild group on voice comms. End-game became a grind again, forcing people to grind out an entire zone plus associated rep to get shoulder enchants for alts, and subscriber numbers dropped to below 10 million for the first time in years. The addition of Raid Finder was an excellent decision, though the nearly one year wait between the final patch and the next expansion was far too long for most players.

4.) Mists of Pandaria appears to be a step back toward the 'Wrath' model, with epic storylines that tie together a zone while still allowing pick-and-choose quest hubs that flow smoothly. Phasing technology first implemented in Wrath and diversified in Cataclysm sees extensive new use in the quests of Mists, giving each player a feeling of truly impacting the world around them. Talents, for the first time, are meaningful choices without cookie-cutter specs. Pet Battles, Farming and Personal Reputations gives casuals a new lease on end-game, while Challenge Modes give fantastic and unique cosmetic rewards to the truly hardcore. With Legendary items now accessible even to those in Raid Finder, there really is something for everyone.

As someone who has been playing since Vanilla, I'm absolutely thrilled with the direction of this expansion.All in all, Mists is easily one of - if not the - best expansion Blizzard has ever released.I honestly believe that Cataclysm was a major misstep, but that Blizzard has regained their footing.

I don't really see how some people think the pandaren are meant for kids and all that. They (or at least one of them) were in Warcraft 3 so the basics were there already. I wonder if they are drunk though.

There are at least two points in the Pandaria quests where the pandas get literally falling-down drunk. I've been through one already and I've heard of another a little later in the same zone. Unless you like your kids stone drunk all the time, this is not a "kid stuff" expansion.

Nekojin adds, "Since Arthas had a personal hand in the creation of Death Knights in the first place, it would stand to reason that Death Knights are no longer being produced. Any race that is introduced after Arthas' defeat, chronologically, could never be raised and prepped by Arthas and his minions to be Death Knights. So, in that sense, the Death Knight is a "dead" class. Will [Blizzard] ever introduce other "advanced" classes like that? Will we see potential limited-window classes? Or will WoW collapse under its own weight before something like that happens again?

One could argue that Bolvar Fordragon is making more deathknights, since he is in the lich kings place. The lore still has a lot of loose ends to tie up in the future.

Actually Gul'dan made death knights well before Arthas, so I don't see why someone else wouldn't make more.

The dungeons are a bit on the easy side this time around. I haven't run into any really difficult Heroics *yet.*

You do realize that Heroic is now like "Normal" difficulty and old Normal is "Raid Finder" difficulty?

I just opened Chalenges tab, and, let's say Scarlet Monastery Gold challenge run requires you to complete it in 13 minutes. Realm best: 20 minutes. And you need to complete all dungeon challenges on gold to get that awesome gear. Wrong argument, dungeons are pretty damn hard on highest difficulty....

Having quit WoW after levelling all but one class to 85, I am not at all tempted by this expansion. I think the changes made to classes in Cataclysm really turned me off, and having had a brief glance the specs don't appear to have been improved. I've had my WoW fun.

Honestly, I'm getting bored of the stuff Blizzard churns out these days. Starcraft 2 was like Starcraft 1, just with improved graphics, better matchmaking and a better map creation system. The base formula remained the same. They did the same thing with Diablo 3, the game essentially remained the same, just a teensy bit more MMO-ey. And WoW, well, this is an expansion so it's not like it can change the formula or anything. It is understandable that they do the way it's been done because it's profitable. They make tons of money off it so why bother changing. But with all that money that they're sitting on, I'd like to see them take a risk with it and make something new and fresh! Hopefully that Project Titan they're working on will be something exciting!

"The game is dying. It's only a matter of time until it's taken off life support."

Technically, if you're not dying, it's because you're already dead, so it's been dying since it was released.

More importantly, the game still has more subscribers than any other pay-to-play MMO. You can halve the subscribers, and that would still hold true. It'll be a long and very profitable death for Blizzard, and they'll have something new to replace it with. After all, when you have a goose that lays golden eggs, you can afford to build another

I keep getting the "Leveling sucks, but endgame is awesome" reminding me of the one-trick pony that is WoW. If you like that sort of thing, kudos to you. You'll probably like MoP.

But for me Cata was by far my favorite expansion because 1-60 was REALLY FUN! To be honest, even 80-85 wasn't bad. Hyjal was a pretty fun zone. In between those, when I played the 60-80 content... it reminded me of why I quit WoW way back when.

- no content staggering: when you're introducing a lot of new content and mechanics, it makes sense to change it gradually over time, instead of throwing it wholesale at a user base which is mainly not equipped to deal with the onflow

Do you follow the forums? There are new definitely mechanics that were discussed by blues, but decided to push off to a later patch, to avoid overwhelming users with too many changes all at once. I'm sure we will see new content and mechanics through almost every 5.x patch, and in the next expansion as well.

Anyway, "too much content" is the kind of problem most other MMOs would love to have.

What's happened to ARS? Is it increased input from Conde Nast, or just emulation of sibling pubs like Wired? Can the site continue if headlines become link bait questions with keyword-laden articles that don't answer the questions? Is it possible they don't know how annoying it is to run a laundry list of questions without making at least an attempt to answer them? Do they not see the false dichotomies present in most of the questions, or is it likely to rain tomorrow?

This is the bog standard "ask a question, present evidence, let the reader decide" type story. Presumably the reader is allowed to pick other possible answers; it's only a false dichotomy if you state a || b, prove !a and claim b must be true. Without a claim, there's no logical argument, without an argument, there's no fallacy.

But what I love about these kinds of rants is how some pet peeves about writing morph into a sordid tale of the publication being milked by greedy ad companies and the corporate mothership.

Wow is a trap now. All those players have invested so much time into it that they can't leave. Wow stopped being a fun to play game years ago and it became work. You have to grind raids over and over for a piece of gear or weapon just to be any good at the top lvl. Now they want to change all that and go back to being simple and fun. I could never pay 15 a month for an old game like this. A few years ago the player base would have laughed at the idea of kung fu panda. But now Blizzard could make a sponge Bob square pants expansion and the player base would love it. It makes me feel sorry for these player's stuck in the wow trap. To be at max lvl in this game took a lot of time and work. If I'm not having fun playing a game then i don't play it. The last thing i would want to do is come home from a long day at work and try to get in some raid and hope i get the loot drop I'm looking for.

I really love the artwork in Mists. Every expansion Blizzard find a new subtle way to improve the graphics without drastically hitting performance. The shadows on your character make it look like you're controlling a little toy in the middle of your screen, especially as it is easy to run WoW at 60FPS so all the animations and effects are buttery smooth.

The questing was good, but there is not much you can do to questing to make it hugely different. They have killing, gathering and the odd "vehicle" quest thrown in for good measure which breaks up the routine but doesn't eliminate it totally. I felt like I levelled at a good pace though, and visited some interesting places.

The new talent system is good but maybe needs some work. Everyone was using cookie cutter builds anyway, so a lot of the dull put 5 points here to get blah has gone. Now you get to choose a handful of fairly different spells and can change those spells fairly easily depending on your situation. A few classes spells perhaps could be worked on. However, I did miss my new talent point on ding. Even if it didn't make much difference it added something to levelling up other than just gaining a new level.

PvP is shit but it has always been shit. Class balance, gear, RNG and faction balance on your server just have so much more effect on the outcome of PvP than your actual skill. PvP is for morons. It takes huge amounts of self deception to discount situational factors as I just listed and present your own ability to click buttons as the deciding factor.

Dailies are shit. This is the old, make as little content as possible and stretch it out mentality. Too many, a weekly limit on your valor points and the added snub of needing rep for your gear without tabards to get it. If you are on a PvP server with a disproportionate number of the other faction, good luck even getting those dailies done. You can make the argument to play on a PvE server but it costs money to move.

Dungeons are well made, interesting locations and bosses but overall very easy. I cheated by buying PvP gear to get into heroics but it didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference. But this is again the moron players fault. The large majority of the players are fuckwits who think every game is the same and should be easy, button bashing and that they should be the hero. This means if you make dungeons challenging, as they were at the start of Cataclysm they won't be able to do them and just stop playing. If there seems to be any suggestion that there needs to be CC and the packs just can't be AoEd down in 15 seconds they can't handle it. If you need to move out of some crap, wait for healer's mana or give the tank a chance to build some aggro, they can't handle it. Falling subscription numbers might not be so bad if it rids the game of these fuckwits.

I got scroll of resurrection from a friend, so after a few years off I'm playing again. Honestly, I've enjoyed it but the core of the game hasn't changed much at max level it seems like, so I'm going to enjoy my month or whatever and then leave again.

Cesar Torres / Cesar is the Social Editor at Ars Technica. His areas of expertise are in online communities, human-computer interaction, usability, and e-reader technology. Cesar lives in New York City.